And I'm starting at the southernmost point! In a city called Ushuaia. It seriously is the southernmost city in the world. Technically. The Chilean side has regions further south, but the towns are so small that they don't qualify as "cities".
Anyways, the bus ride here was a LONG one, on an old bus with little leg room. Yes, even I need leg room for those aching knees.
There was one channel crossing with a pleasant surprise – black and white dolphins swimming along!!! Named them the "panda dolphins".
I met Kaori, a fellow Japanese backpacker on the bus. She is travelling for TWO whole years and has spent ONE year already in South America. She even participated in the carnival at Salvador (Brasil) last year. How cool!!!!! Definitely more of a backpacker than myself; she certainly knows her ways to get around the world. Impressive.
Kaori told me about a really famous Japanese guest house in Ushuaia (of all places!!!). 
I had planned on staying at one of the usual gringo hostels, even had a booking for one of them due to the high season. But I changed my plans the last minute and joined Kaori at Ueno Sanso (上野山荘). Glad to say that I didn't get charged for the no-show at the hostel.
Apparently, Kaori came all this way down south to stay there and meet the owner, Grandma Ueno, and her dog. She's that famous! There was a documentary clip about her on a Japanese TV show featuring Japanese emigrants after the war; I watched it while I was there. Ever since her husband passed away a few years ago, she's been running the place with her dog. Grandma and dog are both such sweethearts!!!
Ushuaia is very touristy during the summer months of December to March because all boats going to the Antarctic stop here.
I had one mission – yup, to find an affordable cruise to the Antarctic. And they do exist, especially in these failing economic times.
Kaori told me she booked a cruise on one of those megaship cruise lines starting next week in Buenos Aires for $1,000! Two weeks, all-inclusive, for $1,000 wasn't bad at all, but I wasn't too interested in that one...being a megaship, they don't dock at all. A few of the guests at Ueno Sanso just returned from a 16 day cruise that started in late December for about $1,500. That's a really good last minute deal considering that they get to dock on Antarctic land! Another guy told me that he just booked a berth on that same cruise for $2,100 leaving tomorrow. Not as cheap, but I was totally willing to pay that amount.
So, that's what I tried to do...find a last minute deal to the Antarctic. But unfortunately, it seemed like I missed the
narrow window of opportunity. There were berths available, but I wasn't willing to pay over $3,000. I think a lot of people avoided the holiday season thinking it would be expensive. I did, too! Many ships, therefore, were under booked for the holidays. Now that the holiday season was over, tourists were returning! DARN.You know, I even went on board the ship that the Japanese guy booked to check it out. Nothing luxurious, but nice enough. Since he had a double room all to himself, he suggested that I join him and split the costs. No problem with me. But problem with ship...they had more than enough space on the boat itself, but not enough licenses to take people to the Antarctic. Something about restrictions on the number of people that can dock on Antarctic land. Whatever. I guess it just wasn't meant to be...
Well, at least I got a nice free lunch and snack out of the whole ordeal!!! I pretended to be one of the passengers and joined in on the buffet : )
Before I end, a bit of advice: If you ever come all the way down to Ushuaia during the high season, make sure you have a way out. Flights tend to be expensive (don't let the cheap Aerolineas Argentina flights fool you - those fares are only for Argentina citizens!!!) and buses can be fully booked several days ahead. Only 3 buses a day head out, all at 5am in the morning. I'm stuck here until the 13th.
No comments:
Post a Comment